Hello there, some things about me …
I was brought up in Hampshire where I took A levels at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, before entering the Royal Navy as an officer cadet in 1977. Joining Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth as a midshipman, I later moved to Manadon, the Royal Navy’s Engineering College in Plymouth to undertake my Naval Engineering degree. It was there that I developed my love of sailing.
At that time, the Royal Navy offered its undergraduates every chance to learn how to crew, race and skipper, in its inspiring cruising and racing yachts, including the Morgan Giles yachts GALAHAD and GWAIN, and the Olson 35 racing yachts THUNDERFLASH and FLASHLIGHT. I was a regular crew member on the Manadon Olson yachts racing them each season in Plymouth Sound with the RWYC’s 1884 Wednesday evening series, the Plymouth Offshore Points Series, and regularly at Cowes. I was fortunate, if that’s the word, not to be at sea during the Fastnet Race of 1979, although several of my colleagues were. While I was at Manadon, I obtained my yachtmaster equivalent qualification as a Coastal Skipper.
After completing my degree, more courses followed, including the Nuclear Reactor Course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. I joined the submarine service as an engineer officer and served in HMS CONQUEROR, HMS REVENGE and in the MOD Procurement Executive. While serving there (in the Nuclear Reactor Safety Section) I took up hot air ballooning – something that was feature heavily over the next decade.
Barely had I qualified as a private pilot, when the Civil Aviation Authority, in a move to restrict and control the carrying of passengers for reward, introduced Commercial Pilots Licences for hot air balloons. These CPL’s along with a new regime of air operator licencing, air worthiness inspections and flight time limitations, replicated in all respects what was in place for the operation of a fixed wing airline. An opportunity not to be missed, I thought, and the chance to achieve so called ‘first mover advantage’ in what was a new lofty world – the carriage of passengers in hot air balloons for reward!
Much as I enjoyed my time in the Royal Navy, and on the point of being promoted to Lieutenant Commander, I decided to embark on an early career change. I qualified as a Commercial Pilot, CPL (Hot Air Balloons) and when I left the RN, I featured as a Sun Spot in The Sun newspaper, as ‘man used to working 1000 ft below, working 1000 feet above!’
The Apollo Balloon Company, duly formed and with me as Chief Pilot, entered the legends of history as the first passenger carrying balloon operator in South Devon. We went on to carry thousands of passengers on pleasure flights across the South Hams and Dartmoor in our two company aircraft APOLLO MOONDUSTER and APOLLO MOONCHASER. I qualified as a balloon pilot instructor, and as well as teaching, I undertook contract flying work both in the UK and in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.
All good things must come to an end and by 1996, I had transitioned out of hot air balloons and was running my new business Aurora Web Services, an early day Internet Service Provider offering high end hosting solutions as well as web design, and very early day cryptology and e-commerce. Every day was a school day.
Inspired by the power of the Internet and its ability to reach niche audiences, in 2000 I formed Grakka, a specialist distributor of outdoor cooking equipment as a vehicle for the European distribution of Bradley Smoker, an innovative domestic food smoker. Other brands followed notably Kamado Joe, a high end ceramic grill, the distribution for this brand being de-merged and sold in 2018.
Today I continue to work, with a close team of colleagues, and my wife Brigitte, on Bradley Smoker European distribution as well as Pepe Garden Furniture, a quality outdoor garden furniture business that I acquired in 2019.
Apart from sailing Nausikaa, I enjoy watching others gardening at our home in Kingston, South Devon and maintaining the lawn and beds at our French home in Brittany. I also have a piano and a couple of old cars – an MGB-GT and a Land Rover Series II – that I fiddle with, as men do.
I fish occasionally, for sea bass – we live in eternal hope.